ABSTRAK
Bagaimanakah suatu konflik beragama ditangani di masa lalu? Sejarah menawarkan jawaban yang menarik, yakni Debat Terbuka Persis-Ahmadiyah Qadian di Bandung dan Batavia tahun 1933. Inilah debat terbuka satu-satunya yang memiliki notulensi resmi officieel verslag debat yang dapat diakses hingga hari ini. Sekalipun Debat Terbuka Persis-Ahmadiyah Qadian merupakan peristiwa menghebohkan di masa itu hingga dihadiri perwakilan organisasi serta tokoh-tokoh penting dan diliput nyaris semua media massa terkemmuka saat itu, ternyata tidak lagi diketahui dan dikenal di masa kini. Di antara konflik beragama dalam Islam, konflik dan resistensi terhadap Ahmadiyah dapat dianggap sebagai yang terbesar di Indonesia belakangan ini dengan jumlah korban perusakan, pembakaran, dan penghilangan nyawa yang signifikan. Resistensi terhadap Ahmadiyah tersebut bahkan membuat pemerintah mengeluarkan SKB tiga menteri sebagai upaya menangani masalah ini. SKB tiga menteri tersebut sejauh ini belum berhasil meredam persekusi terhadap Ahmadiyah. Tulisan ini merupakan penelitian sejarah atas Debat Terbuka yang menghebohkan itu, juga sejarah ringkas kelahiran Ahmadiyah di India, sejarah masuknya Ahmadiyah ke Indonesia Hindia Belanda, waktu itu , inti ajarannya, dan reaksi umat Islam Indonesia waktu hingga berpucak pada Debat Publik Ahmadiyah vs Persis. Ada kesejajaran antara lahirnya Ahmadiyah di India dengan lahirnya gerakan modernisme Islam di Hindia Belanda. Semangat modernisme Islam itulah yang menghasilkan ldquo;kecelakaan sejarah rdquo; ketika tiga santri Sumatra Thawalib yang hendak belajar ke Al-Azhar Mesir disarankan oleh para gurunya untuk belajar ke India agar memperluas sumber bandingan bagi gerakan modernisme Islam Hindia Belanda. Belakangan, tokoh-tokoh Sumatra Thawalib yang meresistensi kehadiran Ahmadiyah di Sumatera Barat, dan berpuncak pada resistensi keras Persis di Jawa Barat. Dabat terbuka antara Persis vs Ahmadiyah di Bandung dan Batavia berjalan keras dan panas namun sepenuhnya berjalan tertib dan kadang di sana-sini menghadirkan ldquo;kelucuan rdquo; dari kedua belah pihak. Sepenggal sejarah tersebut menunjukkan bahwa perbedaan dan konflik krusial dalam agama ternyata dapat ditangani dengan cara yang adil, beradab, dan bermartabat dalam bentuk Debat Terbuka yang memperkaya dan meningkatkan mutu intelektual umat beragama dibanding brutalitas persekusi dan kekerasan.

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ABSTRACT
How was a religious conflict solved in previous time History offers an interesting answer The Public Debates of Persis vs Ahmadiyya Qadian in Bandung and Batavia, in 1933. These public debates are the only public debates that have official archives officieel verslag debat accessible to public until recent day. Although these public debates were considered remarkable event at that time, and were attended by representatives of organizations and important figures and were covered by almost all prominent mass media at the time, today, we can say that this event was forgotten. Among religious conflicts in Islam, the conflict and resistance to Ahmadiyya can be regarded as the largest in Indonesia, which includes significant numbers of victims of destruction, arson and disappearance. The resistance to Ahmadiyya had even made the government issued a decree signed by three ministers as an effort to solve this problem. However, the decree seemed not succeeded in stifling the persecution of Ahmadiyya. This paper is a historical study of the above mentioned public debates, as well as a brief history of the birth of Ahmadiyya in India, the history of Ahmadiyya rsquo s presence in Indonesia, the core of its doctrine, and the Indonesian Muslims reaction to them, up to the point 0f the public debates between The Ahmadiyya vs Persis. We can notice a kind of parallelism between the birth of Ahmadiyya in India and the birth of the Islamic modernism movement in the East Dutch Indies. It can be said that the spirit of Islamic modernism had produce an ldquo accidental history rdquo when the three Sumatran Thawalib rsquo s students who were previously planning to study in Al Azhar University, Egypt, were suggested by their teacher to study in India in order to enrich Islamic modernist movement in Dutch East Indies. Later on, the Sumatran Thawalib rsquo s prominent figures who noticed a different principal doctrine between them and Ahmadiyya began to show their resistance. The resistance to Ahmadiyya in West Java, led by Persis, was rapidly increased. The Public Debate between Persis vs. Ahmadiyya in Bandung and Batavia were quite lively and aggressive, yet still managed to maintain fairness and good manners from both sides. There were even some unintended humor happened in the middle of the debates. This piece of history shows us that crucial differences and conflicts within religions can be discussed in a fair, civilized and dignified way, such as y holding public debates that are more likely to enrich and improve our religious an intellectual quality than the brutalism of persecution.